


The Spark's Kiss

by leedeeloo



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Falling In Love, First Date, First Meetings, M/M, Slow Burn Relationship, nerds like each other and take it slowly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-02-02
Packaged: 2018-05-12 06:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5655511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leedeeloo/pseuds/leedeeloo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a very original college au. Originally posted on tumblr with the same title. The tags and warnings will be updated as needed, but right now it's T because this latest chapter has a makeout that i forgot to mention somewhere more publicly until now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Indulgence

**Author's Note:**

> This was born out of my hatred of a particular class, and was raised on my wishful thinking of ~college experiences~ I could have. This first chapter is the combination of the first three chapters posted on tumblr.

Oh my God.

Oh my GOD.

This was practically torture. This was, without a doubt, Dan's biggest regret in his three and a half years at college. If he could do it all over again, the only thing he would change would be not leaving any introductory courses until the end of his degree. For sure, it sounded like an easy ride for the end of a long journey, a few easy credits that weren't really necessary.

But holy shit.

A person can only be taught how to properly cite sources so many times.

He had considered, a lot, over the first couple weeks of this class, how much of this he could skip. When this would come to an end, and he could return and maybe actually learn something interesting. That considering had abruptly stopped (or turned into a different consideration), when someone in class caught his eye.

They had come in late one day, the end of the second week, and tried super hard to quietly sneak to a seat in the middle of the room. They weren't, you know, successful at that, and half the class had turned and looked, and really, honestly, the only reason Dan noticed was 'cause the dude bumped his bag into him.

Totally.

This latecomer being super fucking cute and just- just, like, super serious about this class and super flustered about being late one time had nothing to do with it. That was one hundred percent the only reason Dan was still thinking about them a week later, looking for them when he slinked into his spot at the back of the room, glancing over during the lecture, and wondering at the end of every class if he should hang around and try to catch this dude, ask him for... for anything. To get coffee, pizza, study together. Anything.

Dan was totally not in denial over any kind of crush at all.

It was a blessing in disguise when he showed up for class one day, and saw a paper with 'CLASS CANCELLED' taped up next to the door, with his class and the hour and a half it took up noted. Instantly he was digging his laptop out of his bag, kneeling on the floor, double checking that there was no cancellation notice posted when he could've decided to stay in bed for another hour. And there it was, a notice- and an email- sent out for the class about two minutes ago. He was both relieved and frustrated; he wasn't wrong, but he was at school, not in bed. And then, he was elated. Everyone else was still headed to class. That guy he was so taken by was not only going to show up, but also have guaranteed free time.

He was early, and totally conspicuous; big 'ol laptop bag, bulging backpack with gym shoes dangling from the bottom, and the owner himself glancing from his phone and the hallway in front of him. Perfect.

“Hey,” Dan called, a little loud, still sat on the ground. He caught his target's eye, and smirked warmly. “It's, uh, cancelled today.”

“...Oh.” He looked from Dan, to the sign, frowning as he shoved his phone in his pocket. He readjusted his bag, shifting his weight from foot to foot, clearly not sure to do with his free time. Dan stood up, like a time lapse video of a flower growing; sudden, calculated, and perfect. He was surprised to find out that him and his total not-crush were the same height- or, would be, if the not-crush stopped slouching.

“I was wondering if you'd like to be, like, study-buddies or something? At least for today?” He tried to smile like a cool and confident man, but he was pretty sure it was actually coming across as a nervous goofy grin. “I'm- my name's Dan, by the way.”

“'m Arin,” he mumbled, looking Dan straight in the eye. “That sounds great. I know a pretty sweet spot to hole up in.” He smiled a little and started walking past Dan, evidently leading the way.

“Erin? With like, an E? That's pretty unusual.” Dan spun around, keeping pace, glancing between his companion and ahead of them. Arin shook his head.

“A-R-I-N.” He was clearly used to this, and smiled. “But i just say A's weird, Den.

OH. Okay. At least now Dan knew exactly what kind of person he had a not-crush on; a dick. A big, huge, practically throbbing dick that he so was not crushing on. Great.

* * *

 

So, like, the spot. The sweet spot, as it were. Dan had to admit, it was actually pretty sweet; it was behind one of the coffee shops on campus, and he had always assumed it was a part of it, and employees only, like everyone else on campus had. As Arin had led him there, he explained that he worked at another location of the cafe over the summer, and that someone who usually worked at the college one took a shift where he worked, and told him all about it.

“So, like, don’t tell everyone about this,” Arin said as he pulled his laptop out of one of his bags. He had just sat down, but he was already getting comfy. He kicked off his shoes and sat cross legged on the chair, tucking his feet under his thighs. “I like my privacy.”

Dan nodded at his bag, getting his textbook and notebook out. “Yeah,” he mumbled, realizing Arin probably didn’t notice him nod. “Don’t worry about it. So, uhm,” he cleared his throat, not one hundred percent into actually studying. Arin stared at him, waiting for him to keep going.

God, he had pretty eyes.

Wait. Shit. Fuck, not like that; anyways, Dan had a point here, something to say, right on the tip of his tongue, something witty, something funny, something to make him sound totally cool-

“You carry around a lot of shit.” GODDAMMIT. “I mean, like, do you live super far from campus, or something? ‘Cause, like, there’s still a bunch of empty lockers around so you wouldn’t have to, like- you won’t break your back this semester.” Okay, that was fine. He was so totally obviously nervous, and sounded like a total idiot, but, y’know. It was fine. He smiled, nervous and embarrassed, his lips tight together. He felt like a frog.

Arin either didn’t notice how uncool he was, or didn’t care, and smiled back, easy, soft, pushing his hair back behind his ear. “I’m in the dorms, actually. I just like being prepared for anything, man.” Dan leaned sideways, looking at Arin’s Pile of Stuff, and then back to Arin, eyebrow risen.

“...So, how long would your rations last us? About a year?” He tried to copy that easy smile, the effortless way he could just tease Dan while introducing himself.

Arin laughed suddenly, sharp and short and he seemed surprised by it too. He put his hand to his face, a half-hearted effort of covering his mouth, leaning on his elbow. “So rude,” he muttered, giggling. “And I’ve just got lunch. It’s the gym clothes that make look like… this.”

There was a lull, a short silence as Arin clicked around on his laptop and Dan flipped his notebook to his last page of notes. They were both smiling, not embarrassed or awkward.

“Wait,” Dan said suddenly, making solid eye contact. “You live in the dorms? The dorms that aren’t even a ten minute walk away? Those dorms?” Arin nodded.

Now it was Dan’s turn to bark out a laugh. “Dude, what the fuck! Why don’t you leave all this there, then!”

Arin’s lips disappeared, pressed together in a tight embarrassed line. “Sh-shut the fuck up,” he stuttered out, looking away, slumping onto the table. “If I need something it's just _easier_ this way.” He was really amazing at just curling up, at folding into himself. His arms were crossed on the table now, laptop pushed to the side and ignored for now.

The fidgeting and re-adjusting was contagious.

“It's easier,” Dan repeated as he stretched back. Just his shoulders and ass touching the chair, feet planted on the ground with his knees pointing outwards, one arm stretched to the table with his pen waving between his fingers, and his right he could've forgotten about, light against his hip. “I mean, I'm not gonna _say_ that you're kind of being a dumbass...”

They stared at each other in a tense silence for about three seconds. Arin broke first; giggles with the bits and pieces of an exasperated ‘oh my god’ poking through, and Dan came quickly after, folding himself up and grabbing onto the table to keep from falling to the floor, laughing too hard to care if he did.

* * *

 

It was painfully obvious they weren’t studying. They had everything out to look like they were, a textbook open between them, notebook, laptop, Arin’s pencil case open (well, pencil bag) and various writing utensils scattered across the table. But all that was in the notebook were silly, round-robin doodles, where one of them had started something and the other had THE BEST idea about what to add, I can’t explain it dude, just give it here.

This was pretty successful.

Arin had uncoiled. He was stretched across the table, drawing in Dan’s notebook, refusing to pull it closer to him, and refusing to stop complaining about the table jutting into his gut. Dan tried like, three times to shove his notebook across the table, but each time he was met with a very sweet, very quiet, ‘no fuck off’ and the book being shoved right back to where it was. Until Arin very abruptly changed his mind and stood up, stepping around the table to Dan’s side.

Oh, fuck.

This was- this was just rude, and uncalled for, and just the worst- fucking christ Arin’s hip bumped into his arm- like, how dare he, how dare both of them, Dan wasn’t even paying attention, this was just, just fucking--

“Wait, shit, what time is it?” Dan asked, looking up to Arin. Arin dropped his pen, leaning across the table spin his laptop around. He really got committed to staying in one spot.

“Uhhh, like eleven fifteen. Do you gotta go?” Once he answered he stood up straight at his claimed spot next to Dan. And, was maybe, disappointed? That wasn’t the point. Dan stood up, closing books and grabbing his pen.

“Yeah, I’ve got classes for like, the next three hours.” He looked up, a small smile, before grabbing his bag and shoving his stuff into it, talking into it. “It’s kinda brutal, but I like it better this way.” He put on his backpack, straightening and flattening and fidgeting with his cardigan. “I’ll uh, see you later?” Fuck, he didn’t mean for that to sound like a question.

Arin nodded, hesitating for a second, then giving one solid nod again. “Yeah. N-next class, I guess.” They both gave awkward shy smiles as Dan walked backwards for a few paces, then spun around, speed walking to make it across campus and get rid of this sudden nervous energy.

That was weird. Like, usually, Dan didn’t care about being late. He tried not to be, of course, but he had no problem shuffling in late and catching up later. So, this tight, trembling anxiety (that was the wrong word, but he didn’t have the right one), this _feeling_ in his chest, just didn’t make sense. It had to be something else.

It had to be that they didn’t do anything but laugh and shoot the breeze. Yes. That was it. This weird, buzzing feeling, this uneasy newness, was just guilt. Guilt over not studying for an easy class that he put the bare minimum of effort into. That made perfect sense.

As he settled into his spot in the classroom, he knew he was full of shit.


	2. The Date

It was a good week. Well, probably. Like, so far, the week had been good. Okay, really, monday to friday- morning, so far just the morning- had been good, working out in Dan’s favour. Probably. He couldn’t tell if this was going the way he wanted because he didn’t know which way that was. But it felt nice.

The middle of class was probably not the time to be reviewing this, but, fuck, not like he’d have the chance later. He’d be too _busy_ later, have too much to do later. Which was to say, Danny had _plans_ later. Friday night plans- well, okay, Friday late-afternoon plans, but the actual time wasn’t the important part. The important part was that these plans were with Arin. He and Arin had completely coincidentally shown up to last day’s class early, and totally randomly decided to make plans for when they both had some free time- Friday afternoon.

How lucky.

Well. Okay, luck had very little to do with it. It was more, Dan totally happened to wake up early, and just happened to have nothing better to do than go to class early, and Arin apparently had the same coincidences happen to him, and it had just accidentally happened that morning as well, and might as well be part of a new routine, to show up early for class not just to see one another, but for some other, non-crush reason that made perfect sense.

Anyways, the point was, they were going to spend time together outside of class, outside of school, and it was totally not a date, and Dan was totally excited. He was fidgety, hurriedly writing notes, as if writing faster would make his class end sooner, as if tapping his foot and drumming his fingers was warming up his muscles, getting him ready to move faster. Yeah, right.

What really helped was hauling ass out of class before the professor could finish saying ‘that’s it for today’.

He really didn’t have to rush. This was emphasized when he had to wait for the bus, pacing at the stop like a jackass. He was so full of frantic, excited energy, that he contemplated for like, a whole minute if he should walk to his place. It was pretty close to campus; not as close as the dorms, but it usually took him as long to walk there as it did to wait for the bus. It just so happened that the minute he spent thinking about all his options was a super long minute, so once he decided he was totally going to walk, the bus started coming down the street.

His home was a townhouse just a little off campus, that he shared with three other people. Well, probably three. He was pretty sure it was three now, one guy and couple, his memory was less fuzzy about that. He’d been living there for a year already, and people moved in and out all the time. So, obviously he didn’t know any of them very well. But, again, that was not the point, and it was not the time to think about stuff like that. Dan had to get _ready_.

Dan’s room was like, _the_ farthest away from the front door, all the way up the stairs and at the end of the hallway. Normally he hated it, but this was not a normal time. Normally he took his time moving around, but today he was speed walking, in his own home, going up the stairs two steps at a time, and making sure to shut his bedroom door behind him before everything on him practically exploded off.

He was back to the pacing, but at least he was alone, and a little less of a jackass. And it was more like he was doing laps around his room rather than pacing; a circuit from closet to dresser to phone on his bed, and back to his closet to start over. He didn’t know what to wear, and he was certain he was running out of time and was going to be late. It took him about four circuits to assemble a full outfit, and one more to put it on (getting dressed while walking was a special talent of his).

Finally he stopped. Looked down at himself. Shut his closet, looked at himself in the mirror hanging on the door. He looked fine. Well-worn jeans, faded at the knees but no holes yet, a pressed white shirt, brand new and untucked (no, tucked in? Yeah, no, untucked. Yeah.), and an old cozy cardigan, dangling open. One more circuit around his room, really just to check his phone.

He could leave then, walk, and still be a little early.

One, one and a half circuit again, to make sure he had his wallet, had everything he needed in his wallet, and he was off. Out of his room, and back five steps to grab his phone. Now he was heading to his not-date.

* * *

 

Dan really didn’t need to worry; it was just making him sweat and fidget. Yeah, he was early, but that just gave him time to calm down. They were meeting on campus, in one of the courtyard-like areas between buildings, since hey, they both knew where school was. It was nice; open, atmospheric, and Dan was not the only person pointlessly pacing around, nor the only person pulling out their phone every three seconds.

And, like, y’know, he was early and rushed, so his perception of time was a little off, so he felt like Arin was late and _for sure_ going to stand him up, and really it was just inevitable that he was going to make a fool of himself so maybe it was lucky that it was happening this early on-

“Hey,” Arin said, way too softly for it to have startled Dan the way it did. Dan spun around, smiled, his mouth nervously twitching open to an almost grin. He rubbed the back of his neck, stiff and awkward.

“Hey. Uh, so, I uh-” He cut himself off, let his head clear for a second, let some oxygen get to him. “I’ve been pretty busy lately, so I don’t really have a, uh, a plan or anything like that for today.” He paused, trying to keep this even flow going. Arin nodded, looked like he was going to say something- fuck. “So I guess you get to pick what we do.”

His- Arin’s- mouth kind of just opened, shut, opened again, on the ball and ready to deal with the mess in front of him. “Okay. Yeah, that’s fine. I didn’t have a chance to check what’s actually near by, but I have some ideas.” He was so not-nervous sounding when he talked, that he seemed to be smooth and confident about this.

Silence.

Right, fuck.

Dan nodded. “Great! That sounds great.”

Silence again. Dan was nervous, but Arin didn’t seem like it.

“So-”

“S-so let’s go!” Fucking god damn, Dan interrupted again. He tried to cover it up with a weird grin, and Arin was polite enough to just nod in response and took a step backwards, turning his body but still looking at Dan until he followed.

The campus was really close to downtown. Like, walking distance close. It was super convenient for not-dates like this one.

They wandered around for a while, managing to not even make small talk; they just tried to asses cafes and diners as a suitable place to sit and talk in, mostly by peering in the windows and seeing how cozy the seating looked. So they were inevitably mislead.

The place had really nice tables by the front window. Like, really nice. The chairs were big, cozy lounge chairs, and plenty of room for them to stretch out and properly loiter. Just the tables at the front, though. Once they got in, and paid money, and got coffee and snacks in mugs and plates and had to commit to being there... well.

Everything was hilariously tiny, compact, and stiff. They could just about fit their plates and cups on one, with just enough space left that neither of them wanted to selfishly take up with an arm. And the chairs were- well, they were pretty shitty; they both wobbly garden chairs. But it was funny.

“Oh my god,” Dan muttered, grinning. He reached for his coffee, thought about having to rearrange everything already, and brought his hand back, laying it across his lap. “I can’t believe they got us like this!”

Arin returned the grin. His arms were folded, low, and as he leaned forward, balanced on his thighs. “Yeah, ignore that I picked this place, I like that.” His voice was low, trying to be quiet and stifle any more giggling. “This,” he rocked in his chair, almost hitting the table, “is not my fault at all.”

God, he was cute. Dan felt almost stupid, grinning so much his face hurt. “Nooo, of course not,” he said, hoping he sounded, like, not like an asshole. He picked up his coffee mug, holding it to his lips, talking into it and creating a little echo. “It’s all my fault for just taking your word on it. And, uh, not actually looking at the place.”

And then they were left with that weird quiet lull, neither of them sure what to say.

It was agonizing.

Dan started. Put his mug down, set his hand on the open space, leaned forward. “So you’re, uh, like, are you in your first year?” He felt weirdly quiet, like the noise around them would suddenly fade and everyone around would hear him.

Arin nodded, glancing from the table to Dan’s face. “Yeah. I’m in fine arts.” His hand on the edge of the table, like he was deciding where to put it. “So’s my roommate. I don’t know what I want to major in yet, though.” He placed his fingertips on the edge of the table, exactly in line with Dan’s. “Uh.” He swallowed. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to be an advertiser,” Dan said, keeping all enthusiasm out of his voice. “As long as I don’t fail anything, I’ll graduate in the spring.” He smiled and looked down, proud of himself but still shy. “It’s… I feel like I’ve done so much in five years, that it doesn’t even feel real.”

He looked up, risking it. Arin was looking back, eyes wide, mouth open.

“You’re… gonna graduate soon?” Dan nodded at this question. “...How old are you, exactly?”

“Uh, twenty-three.”

Holy shit.

Dan did not think Arin could open his eyes wider, and yet.

And yet.

Arin… squeaked? A sound so quiet, so small, came out of his mouth first. “I’m eighteen.”

And. Like. Dan couldn’t help himself. Really. It wasn’t his fault that he started laughing. Really. It just _happened_. He laughed, bright and loud and sudden. He leaned forward, nudging his elbow onto the table so he could comfortably rest his face in the palm of his hand.

“I never would have guessed.”

Arin went red. Finally. Slid his hand forward. Dan almost didn’t notice. Almost; he took his hand off his face, set it on the table right in front of Arin’s.

“I just- I just assumed, man…” Arin was… Intense, that was probably the word; he was looking Dan right in the eye, despite being obviously embarrassed.

Sudden silence seemed to be a common occurrence between them. Usually nothing happened in these silences. This one, though, seemed to drag on longer. In this one, Arin pushed his hand forward until their fingertips touched.

Oh.

Dan was afraid to move enough to breathe in. He sat up a little, turned his head and grabbed his mug again, making sure not to move away from Arin. He gripped the mug handle, not lifting it.

“Uhm.”

Great. So witty, Dan. What a great thought to start a topic on.

“I don’t know all that much about my roommates. I barely see them, since I’m, uh, usually at school and they’re, uh, y’know, busy with whatever they’re doing.” Yeah, babbling was the perfect way to deal with this. Just saying whatever came to Dan’s mind was the way to handle this. “That, and uh, people move in and out all the time because, uh, I’m- it’s really close to campus.” He let go of his mug, and his hand practically bounced around- the food he got, his mug again, his lap, touching his face his hair; he was fidgeting. “Like, I mean, it’s not as close as the dorms, but, uh, I lived there in my first year and got real sick of it.”

And Arin was staring at him. Wide eyed and waiting to see if Dan was done. Which, he wasn’t, he could’ve rambled forever, but he also wasn’t nervous enough to let that happen. Probably. Okay, not at all; he started to open his mouth, to say something else, to keep rambling without breathing until hopefully he just passed out, but Arin cut him off.

“Sick of it how?” he asked quickly. “Obviously you’re not sick of living with people. So is it actually bullshit, and you’re warning me?” He drummed his fingers once, twice, settled them in the gaps between Dan’s. He smiled, looking away. “...Or something like that.”

Dan licked his lips, swallowed, tried to get some air in him, so he wouldn’t ramble like that again. “No? I don’t think so.” He paused, breathing. Looked at Arin, who was already looking at him. “I just hated… I like getting to pick as many things as possible in my life.” Oh-so casually, Dan slid his hand the tiniest bit forward, linking his index finger over Arin’s. He was almost too embarrassed to keeping looking him in the eye. Almost. “But, y’know, I don’t know if that’s what, uh, you’d like too, so I don’t know if it’s, like, good advice.”

Arin, however, was too embarrassed. He shrugged his shoulder up, pressing his cheek against it. He scooted his chair forward, bumping his feet into Dan’s. “I guess not,” Arin muttered. He uncoiled a little bit, lifting his head up. “I mean, I guess that’s not what I’m like.” He sat up straight, glanced at their hands, then back to Dan’s face. “I’m pretty laid back, but-” Finally, finally, he slid his hand right against Dan’s, linking their fingers together. “I like having a say in certain things.”

Dan felt his ears get hot as he realized this was a not a not-date. Like, he knew, he always knew they weren’t just being friendly to each other, but he just didn’t really realize it. Until now. While he was holding hands with Arin.

Arin very politely did not mention Dan almost kicking over the table until after they left.

Arin also very politely did not let go of Dan’s hand, and even let Dan be a gentleman and walk him all they way up to the dorm entrance. Then, they were both stalling.

“So…” Dan started, not knowing where he was going. They were just a few yards from the door.

“This was nice.” Arin’s voice was calm and even, like he had been rehearsing that all afternoon. He licked his lips, breaking eye contact but not looking away. He looked back up with a soft little smile. “We should do this again soon.”

“Yeah,” Dan said quickly, nodding. “Yeah, we should.” He took a step back, not letting go of Arin’s hand. It was, like, too early to kiss him, right? And he’d have another chance for that later. Probably. Yeah, no, for sure, Dan would have a lot of time, at a later point in time, to kiss Arin. “I’ll, uh, see you next week then?”

“Next week,” Arin repeated, taking a step back. He grinned, and the both of them kept slowly retreating, pulling their hands apart as slowly as they had brought them together. Once they finally completely separated, they didn’t turn around right away; it took a few moments, and it was Arin who started, while Dan was still slowly going backwards.

It was the perfect opportunity.

It only took Dan a couple long strides, by then Arin was already turned around, and he was right behind him. He wrapped his arms around Arin’s shoulders, heard him gasp. Dan tilted his head up, hoping he was close to Arin’s ear.

“I’ll see you soon.” He let go as quickly as he grabbed on, turning quickly and walking away. He didn’t really want Arin to see how red his face was after that smooth maneuver.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter won't be up for a while. this is all up really quickly here, because this was all posted on my tumblr over the course of like three months. we're up to ~current events~ here, folks.


	3. Sensitive

Dan, as much as he didn’t want to admit it sometimes, loved order. He liked having a routine, doing the same things at the same time, and knowing what to expect from tomorrow when he went to bed. He found it grounding, even though he wasn’t incredibly strict about his routine.

Arin was.

Arin was always precisely on time, scheduled his weeks and days out to be as efficient as possible (so he wouldn’t have to walk as much, he told Dan), and would make this small angry hmmm noise when plans were changed suddenly before pulling out his phone and rearranging everything. Which Dan _appreciated_. It was nice to see his nebulous ‘maybe’ plans get pinned down into a concrete date. It always made him a little nervous to do it himself.

But that was a little beside the point.

The point was, they’d been on a small handful of dates. Little, casual ones, where they ate together in the cafeteria, or got coffee and walked around campus; they could’ve said they were just hanging out, but they called them all dates. And it was nice- little oases of something as they steadily got busier- but Dan wasn’t surprised when Arin asked him to go out somewhere a little more properly again.

Dan was surprised when Arin had texted him the day of, just before Dan left his house, that he was running late, and if he wanted, Dan could come up to his dorm room instead of waiting outside. Not surprised enough to question it, though.

He replied just before he started heading over, skipping out on asking if something was wrong. Still, he hurried, like some sort of strange galloping forest creature.

Any worry that had manifested on his way was blown away when Arin swung open the door, the smell of warm laundry wafting out. Arin was smiling, his cheeks a little pink, his hair half up in a little ponytail.

“Hey. Sorry, I just-” Arin stepped back, holding the door. “Come in. I’m just putting away my laundry.” He paused, glanced down. “And take off your shoes.”

“Uh, sure.” Dan looked down, and sure enough, he was standing on a little welcome mat, and next to it was a rubber tray mat, holding just Arin’s shoes. It was a smart way to keep the floor clean for all the little drops of paint and ink and other arty things instead. He wiggled his shoes off and onto the rubber mat, stepping around Arin and out of the way so he could close the door.

It was exactly the same as all the other dorm rooms; the bathroom was right next to the entrance, creating a narrow foyer like space. Arin and his roommate had pushed their beds along the wall next to the bathroom, and Arin’s was clearly the farther one, with a basket and piles of clothes on it, one already folded. There was a dresser across from their beds, and one desk, closer to the door. It was practically a line between their stuff, even on the top of the dresser; Arin’s belongings on the farther side of the room, looking like a pastel collage.

Arin went back to where he presumably was before, in between the two piles and back to sorting. Dan meandered in, looking around, taking everything in, stopping in front of Arin’s half of the dresser, gently poking the knick-knacks by the edge.

“Seems like you guys get along,” Dan commented. He saw Arin snap his head up in the corner of his eye. “Like, I mean, you don’t have a wall or made up or anything.”

Arin laughed sharply, nervously. “Yeah, no. ...Yeah, we agreed on the arrangement right away, I guess.” There was a very abrupt silence, where Arin clearly had something to say. Dan waited, weirdly calm compared to how… tense Arin was. “He’s got a group project or something now, but I didn’t want to leave this all out in case he came back before I did. Because- ah, well, you saw the floor.”

“Yeah,” Dan said, half over his shoulder, still intrigued by all of the everything on the dresser. He waited for Arin to keep going, touching and picking up little things; jewelry, folded cranes, a strange little sculpture made of clay and glass stones. He looked over after about a minute of quiet shuffling to see Arin right behind him, a neat folded pile of clothes in his arms.

“Could you get the second drawer for me?” Arin asked, then clarified, “the one right under the top one.” Dan nodded, and opened it. The few things in it matched the colour palette of the clothes in his arms, and the rest of Arin’s side of the room; pastel pinks and purples, little accent of white and black. While Arin put his clothes away, Dan noticed the constant glances in his direction, Arin’s mouth opening and closing like he was thinking of something to say. He wasn’t just running late. Something was up.

“Is something wrong, Arin?” Dan stared into the drawer, bumped his shoulder against Arin’s. They both stopped moving, a little hiss of a sigh came out of Arin, let the pile of clothes sit in the drawer, didn’t bother closing the drawer. “Like, you’re acting weird, like-” Dan paused, looked over at Arin. “Like there’s something you don’t want to tell me.”

Arin smiled, this tight little smile. Like Dan was right. He clenched his fist and felt his stomach just drop and curdle. At least it was early. At least he hadn’t spent a lot of time on this, only enough to feel like a little bit of an idiot.

“I did want to talk to you,” Arin said, even, steady. Maybe that was the hard part for him. “I was gonna do it today, while we were out, but I wanted it to be more private.” He knew it, he knew it! Dan clenched his jaw, nodded, waited.

Like everything else this day, the contrast next to Arin was astounding. His shoulders settled back down, he let out a slow breath, looking at Dan. That kind softness was back in his face. He smiled.

“Do you want to be boyfriends? Like, I know we’ve been dating for a little while, but I wanted to-” He looked away, moved his hand up to tuck his hair behind his ear, realized it was already tied back and brought it back down, tapping it against Dan’s. “I thought it would be nice to make sure.”

Oh. _OH._

Instantly, Dan felt himself soften. Like, he started breathing again. His mouth fell open in a goofy, enthusiastic grin. He grabbed Arin’s hand and nodded, shifting his weight from foot to foot, practically bouncing.

“Yeah! Yes. Jeez, Arin, I thought that-” He stopped himself, grabbed Arin’s arm with his other hand, right by the elbow. He leaned forward, letting out a shaky laugh, resting his forehead on Arin’s shoulder. “You’re really something,” he said softly, mostly to himself. He wanted to stay like that for a bit, feeling the anxiety seep out of him, be close to the warmth of someone that _liked_ him. He felt Arin press a kiss to the top of his head, grab Dan’s hand off his elbow, turn to face him. He lost his place on Arin’s shoulder, looked up, and got another kiss to his forehead. He slid closer, trying to keep his head low, below Arin’s. He felt Arin’s arm wrap around his waist, hand warm on his back.

“...What were you thinking?” Arin asked, his voice soft but still too loud for being next to Dan’s ear. Dan jerked up straight, and kept looking down, very interested in his and Arin’s hands.

Now he was embarrassed.

“N-nothing. Something stupid.” He brought his eyes up, not looking, smiled, tried to be convincing. It didn’t work on Arin. He just looked at Dan, waiting for him to go on, politely not calling him a liar, but still letting him know. It took a few more seconds of prying silence for him to break.

“Fine.” That was Arin. “You don’t have to tell me.” He didn’t sound angry at all. Or frustrated or annoyed or anything. It was fine. It was really actually fine. Arin said it was fine, and he _meant_ it. Dan, suddenly giddy, kissed Arin’s cheek. And again. And a quick one to his lips.

Dan kept their faces close together, just in case. “I promise it was very stupid. You’re not, uh,  missing-”

Arin was done with talking and kissed him.  He grabbed and pulled the shirt at Dan’s waist, twisting the shirt and bringing Dan closer, who tried to gracefully fall into Arin. He was too surprised and had too much momentum though, so he wound up just shoving Arin backward, and grinning too hard to keep kissing him.

They kind of spun because of that, and Arin being unwilling to fall right over. Somewhere in the middle of all that motion, Dan looped his arms around Arin’s waist. Arin glanced around the room, a similar kind of grin on his face. He let go of Dan’s shirt, letting it untwist a little, placing his hands on Dan’s hips instead, giving them a little squeeze. And then a little push on his hip, kissing him, but they were both smiling too much to keep their teeth from clicking together.

They both went with it; Dan stepping to the side, to wherever Arin was nudging him, and refraining from kissing, instead just keeping their faces close together, cheeks bumping. It was a slow, clumsy dance, that Dan was having a little trouble following. Until his back bumped against the wall. Then he knew where it was going.

“Hey,” Dan said, somewhere between surprised and excited, and not at all intending to start a conversation. To make sure that didn’t happen, Dan pressed his lips to Arin’s and leaned back against the wall. This had the totally unintended consequence of Dan pulling their hips together.

Arin was less subtle. Or more honest, depending on how you looked at it. He kept one hand on Dan’s hip, the hand he had used to gently push Dan over here with, and the other he slid around and up, to his chest, exposing a triangle of skin at the top of Dan’s hip, and keeping him solidly pressed against the wall.

Dan could’ve just stayed like this for a while. Their mouths sliding together, steady pressure against him, these little noises from Arin that he could feel- it was so easy, so _simple_. He forgot why he was even worried before.

Wait.

Dan turned his head to the side, the only way he could pull away, licked his lips before saying anything. “You said you don’t know when your roommate is gonna get back.” Not accusatory, just a little nervous, with a quick glance to the door, as if saying it would make this the exact moment someone would walk in the door.

“I said that,” Arin acknowledged. His lips were just against Dan’s neck, brushing the skin there as he spoke. “I maybe lied a little.” Dan looked at him, turned his head, softly bumping it against Arin’s, mostly pressing them together. “Not like- Like, he said when he’d be back, but he also said he might do stuff after, so he might be later than that.”

“Oh my god,” Dan muttered, leaning forward against Arin, chin on his shoulder, feeling this deep laugh come out of him as he shook against Arin’s chest. “I can’t believe you!” He wrapped his arms around Arin, squeezing him.

Arin giggled, flexing his hand on Dan’s chest, like a little reminder of what they were in the middle of. “Yes you can,” he replied, sweet and sing-songy. He wormed his hand up to the collar of Dan’s shirt, tugging it down. He pressed a soft kiss just below Dan’s collar bone, peering up at him. He stayed close, staying pressed together.

Fuck.

Dan tried to play it cool. Like he didn’t just feel his core tighten up, like he didn’t just get the urge to grab Arin by the shoulders and push him on his knees and see that same face, that same little moment again, just lower-

That was not playing it cool. Neither was grabbing Arin’s hips and pulling them against his own, keeping his back firm against the wall. It was the very opposite of cool to slide his hands up Arin’s torso, so he could loop one leg around his hips.

Arin was very committed to keeping a hand on Dan’s chest and his collar stretched down, rearranging so he could do that and grab Dan’s thigh. He kept kissing Dan’s neck and collarbone, getting these soft little gasps out of Dan, which of course got louder when Arin started grinding their hips together. It occurred to Dan, very briefly, that this felt new and fresh, a little like this was his first time making out with someone like this, that maybe he felt like that because it was for Arin. That thought got shoved away when Arin started biting.

Dan yelped, his whole body jerking. Arin pulled away, surprised. Dan brought his hands up to Arin’s shoulders, his eyes wide in also surprise. He let his leg slip down, balanced on tip-toe, waiting.

Dan licked his lips, collecting himself. “You, uh, you should warn me before you do that.” He felt this weird embarrassment come over him, like he shouldn’t have been so jumpy over a little pain.

“Do what?” Arin asked, a leading question. He brought his hands low, to Dan’s hips and grabbing his thigh.

“Bite me,” Dan responded bluntly, a nervous little smile on his mouth, trying not to look embarrassed. “I’m very sensitive.”

Arin pressed a kiss to where he bit Dan, lips moving against his skin. “Okay. M’sorry.” Not said guiltily, just genuine. It gave Dan this blooming feeling of joy in the pit of his stomach, bringing a just as genuine smile to his face. He pushed Arin’s shoulders back a little, a nudge.

“C’mon, let’s- I’ve got a date with my boyfriend now, let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it has been a very long while!!! honestly, i hit a writers block at the very end, and came out of it with some original work, which i still had to juggle with school. everything is going to be coming out at a much slower pace, because it won't be as good as i want if i force it.  
> thanks for reading <3


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